Shair Aur Sargam, Songs From Movies of 7 Great Lyricists Options

[swarapriya]

(Anand Bakshi) Haye Mera Dil (1968)

In 1960’s Kum Kum and Kishoreda as a leading pair appeared in several movies together. These include “Baghi Shahzada (1964)”, “Duniya Nachegi (1967)”, “Haye Mera Dil (1968)”, “Mr. X in Bombay (1964)”, and “Shreeman Funtoosh (1965)”. They also appeared in “Ganga ki Laharen (1964)” but not as the leading pair. All these films share some common traits. They were all commercially unsuccessful. They were all simply badly made. They all had good music. With such an enormous talent at his disposal one wonders why Kishoreda made so many poor choices.

As the above list mentioned, this is yet another bad movie that Kishoreda starred in. His antics in the film are so repetitious that you do not even feel like watching him or the movie. The only saving grace was that there are a couple of songs by Kishoreda, “Ijaazat Ho” and “O Bas”, that standout. Interestingly, the music director Usha Khanna had Mannada sing a couple of songs, “Jaaneman” and “Kaahe”, for Kishoreda. I am not sure what the criteria was here. Kishoreda could have easily sang those songs himself.

Incidentally a young and slim looking Prem Chopra appeared in a supporting role in the film. His screen persona as a “baddie” has not been crystallized yet. That was few years ahead of him. But it was nice to see him as a “softie” and as a good friend of Kishoreda.

Here are the songs mentioned and others from this film…

[swarapriya]

(Hasrat Jaipuri) Main Nashe Mein Hoon (1959)

In spite of the great music given by Shankar & Jaikishan (Dattaram and Sebastian were assistants) this movie did not have much to offer and did lackluster business. Mala Sinha as the leading lady had very little to do in the film. Even Raj gave way to senior actors Mubarak and Nazir Hussain who dominated the proceedings.

As a friend of Raj, the comedian actor Maruti had a significant supporting role in the film. Even the song “Kisi Nargisi” was picturized on him. There is a story behind this. The song was originally devised for Raj. But he was coming off the split with his longtime companion friend Nargis and decided it will be awkward to perform for that song on the screen. The director then decided to film it on Maruti.

The first two posts contain all songs from the film. I am uploading several singers versions of Ghalib Saab’s ghazal “Yeh Na Thi” in the third post.

Here are the songs in the first post…

[swarapriya]

Concluding Songs from "Main Nashe Mein Hoon (1959)"...

Here are the rest of the songs from this popular musical album...

[swarapriya]

The Ghazal "Yeh Na Thi" and Various Singers

Here are some of other famous singers who have sung this Ghalib's famous ghazal "Yeh Na Thi Hamaari Qismat"...

[swarapriya]

(Majrooh) Nache Nagin Baje Been (1960)

Here are the songs from this film...

[swarapriya]

(Rajinder Krishan) Samundar (1957)

In 1953, during the filming of “Aurat” (music was by Shankar & Jaikishan), Prem Nath met Bina Rai. They fell in love and immediately got married. They decided to float their own company, called P.N. Films, to produce films. Their first effort was “Shagufa” released in 1954 with the music by C. Ramchandra. The movie flopped. In 1956, they came out with not one but two movies together under their home production, “Hamara Watan” (with Hemantda’s music) and “Prisoner of Golconda” (music was by the duo Datta Davejkar & Jagannath Prasad). Both movies flopped and were quickly forgotten. Never to give up, the wife and husband team decided to give one last gasp try. The result was “Samundar” released in 1957 (with Madan Mohan’s music). Unfortunately for them, this movie also met the same fate at the box-office. Even though their movies together did not work, both Rai and Nath pursued their own independent acting careers and were fairly successful at that.

I am uploading songs from this album, a bit downer from Mohanji, in two back-to-back posts. Here are the songs in the first set…

[swarapriya]

Concluding Songs from "Samundar (1957)"...

Here are the rest of the songs from this film...

[swarapriya]

(Shailendra) Main Nashe Mein Hoon (1959)

Songs from this album were uploaded recently in this very thread. These are available at the following location...

http://www.hamaraforums.com/index.php?show...658&st=1250




This post has been edited by swarapriya: May 19 2015, 07:02 PM

[swarapriya]

(Shakeel) Umeed (1971)

Before the film was released, Shakeel Saab, one of our great lyricists, who wrote lyrics for all but one song for this film, passed away at an young age of 53 from the complications of diabetes. Three more films for which he wrote lyrics were released at later dates. These include “Jurm aur Sazaa” in 1974, “Jogi” in 1978, and “Bomb Blast” in 1993.

Music director Ravi who occasionally wrote lyrics for some songs and ventured into singing does both in this film. He wrote lyrics for one song and sang two of them.

Unfortunately, the songs I am uploading here are not of that good sound quality. They are fine to listen to, and mostly distortion free, but are of inferior audio. I am uploading them at a lower bit rate.

There are three songs of less than a minute duration that Asha sings that are sprinkled through out the film. I am including them here. The song “Hasratein Aarzoo” appears also in the song “Hum Ne Chaaha”. By the way, this song “Hum Ne” is the song of the album, beautifully written, well composed, and lovely rendered by Asha. I am posting this and other songs mentioned plus others in two back-to-back posts.

Here is the first set of songs…

[swarapriya]

Concluding Songs from "Umeed (1971)"...

Here are the rest of the songs from this film...

[swarapriya]

(Anand Bakshi) Juari (1968)

Shashi played a gambler in this film with three women (Tanuja, Nanda, and Naaz) in love with him at various phases of his not so happy and tumultuous life. His turning to decadence was not convincingly documented in the film and therefore what could have been a gripping drama turned out to be another ordinary film.

An interesting thing about this film is that the music director duo Laxmikant & Pyarelal were assistants to Kalyanji & Anandji, who were the actual music directors of the film. LP have already established a name for themselves and by this time were a force in the industry. Their repertoire up to this point included many hit films as well as two Filmfare Awards as the Best Music Directors for the films “Dosti” in 1965 and “Milan” in 1967. And yet here they are. Assisting K&A.

The second part of the song “Humsafar” comes at the end of the film. I am including it here because of the lead music. Also, the couplet “Main Jeet Saka” appeared in the song “Main Hoon”. I am including it here because the lead music is different.

Here are these and other songs from this film…

[swarapriya]

(Hasrat Jaipuri) O Tera Kya Kahna (1959)

Kalyanji of Kalyanji & Anandji team began as a music director in 1957 without his brother as part of his team. As a solo music director, he gave music to few films. These include “Bedard Zamana Kya Jane (1959)”, “O Tera Kya Kahna (1959)”, “Post Box 999 (1958)”, and “Samrat Chandragupt (1957)”. After these Anandji became part of the team and the team gave music for over 200 films.

One song stands out in this album. It is Geetaji’s “Majnu Ke Chhilke”. It is simply a riot. Here is this and other songs from this film…

[swarapriya]

(Majrooh) Sarhad (1960)

This is the second film this year (1960) the very beautiful and talented Suchitra Sen was paired with Dev. The other one was "Bombai Ka Babu". C. Ramchandra was at the helm of the music of "Sarhad". Most of the tunes in this album, by Ramchandra's own acknowledgement, were inspired by popular Western tunes.

Here are these songs...

[swarapriya]

(Rajinder Krishan) Sharada (1957)

L.V. Prasad (more about him below) produced and directed this film based on the Telugu hit “Ilavelpu” made in 1956. While the Telugu film was a super hit, Hindi was an average success. Even though it had fine performances by all the principals, the music by C. Ramchandra was a big let down. Only one song of the many it had is worth noting, the duet by Asha & Lata, “O Chaand”. I am uploading this and other songs from the film in two back-to-back posts.

Shyama and Raj Mehra won respectively the Best Supporting Actress and the Best Supporting Actor Awards from Filmfare. Also, Shivaji Awdhut won the Filmfare Award as the Best Film Editor.

A note about the song “Nikhila Bhuvana”. This one appears almost near the beginning of the film. Few moments later it appears in the full song “Jana Gana Mangala Daayak-1”. I am uploading both of these below.

Incidentally the titles list singers as Lata, Asha, Manna, Mukesh, Chitalkar, and Vinod Chatterji. Kamal Barot, who apparently is a co-singer of the songs “Aajoo Re” and “Bhaagwaan”, was not mentioned. Also, Shamashad Begum is another apparent co-singer of the song “Bhaagwaan”. Her name also was not mentioned in the credits. I am not certain which song Vinod Chatterji, whose name was given in the credits, sang. I am guessing this is probably the male voice in the song “Aajoo Re”. I am requesting our knowledgeable members to share the correct information if they have it. Thank you.

The following paragraphs briefly describe the career of the producer and director of the film, L.V. Prasad. This article is condensed and adapted from an article I wrote earlier for the savithri.info website.

L.V. Prasad (please see the attached picture), whose full name was Akkineni Lakshmi Vara Prasad, was born in Andhra Pradesh in 1908. As a child he did not show much interest in studies. He was attracted to dramas and movies and wanted to be part of them.

Prasad married young at 17, and soon thereafter had a daughter. He had a strong urge to act in movies, and one night quietly slipped away from his home without telling his wife or parents.

After he arrived in Mumbai, Prasad who spoke only Telugu, found it difficult to find employment in the film industry. But after months of struggle, he found a job running errands with the Venus Film Company. He landed finally a small role in the first India Talkie (a talkie is a talking movie as compared to a silent one) cinema in Hindi, “Alam Ara” in 1931. While working on “Alam Ara,” Prasad met H.M. Reddy, now known as the “Telugu Cine Pitamaha” or the grandfather of the Telugu cinema. Reddy was making arrangements for a Tamil film, “Kalidas”, and offered Prasad a small role in it. This was the first Tamil Talkie. Coincidentally, he landed a role in the first Telugu Talkie, “Bhaktha Prahlada”. Thus, Prasad was the only person who had the distinction of appearing in the first Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu Talkies.

After this Prasad was in and out of jobs and worked either in Chennai or in Mumbai wherever he found work. During one of his Mumbai stints he met the stage and film actor Prithviraj Kapoor. This led him to work in Prithvi Theatres. While working there he met and befriended young Raj Kapoor, the oldest son of Prithviraj.

After the War, Chennai was busy again making movies. Prasad decided to move to Chennai. He was immediately hired not only to act in the film “Griha Pravesham” but also to direct it. The movie became a hit and it is now considered to be one of the landmark movies of the 40’s. Following this success, Prasad acted in or directed several movies. One of these movies was “Mana Desam,” made in 1949, that introduced young N.T. Rama Rao in a supporting role. Rao later became a much sought after actor and a successful politician.

Prasad directed Vijaya Pictures first film “Shavukar” in 1950, which became a hit and established him as one of the premiere directors. In that same year he also directed “Samsaram,” another hit that introduced Savithri, who went on to become one of the greatest actresses of Indian cinema, in a bit role. Prasad also directed Sivaji Ganesan in the Tamil film “Manohara,” which elevated Sivaji to unprecedented heights of stardom.

Prasad started his own company in 1956 and made “Ilavelpu” in Telugu. He later remade this in Hindi as “Sharada (1957)” with Meena Kumari and Raj Kapoor. It was the first of many successful Hindi films to come out of the Prasad Pictures banner. Prasad produced films in various Indian languages, including Bengali, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Oriya, Tamil, and Telugu.

In 1982, Prasad received Dadasaheb Phalke Award for his distinguished services to the Indian cinema.

Prasad founded “The L.V. Prasad Eye Institute” in 1987. This was even earlier than the much heralded “Sankara Eye Foundation”. Its head office is in Hyderabad with branches spread throughout India. It is estimated that they have treated over 20 million people since it was founded and half of them for no cost to the patients.

Prasad -- an actor, director, camera assistant, story writer, and producer passed away in 1994.

Here are the songs of “Sharada” starting in the next post…

This post has been edited by swarapriya: May 29 2015, 08:57 PM

[swarapriya]

Songs from "Sharada (1957)"...

Here is the first set of songs from this film...